Deck The Chairs plans packed holiday schedule

The popular North Florida holiday tradition, Jax Beach Deck The Chairs (JBDTC), is celebrating 12 seasons promoting children’s arts and arts education. Opening 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at the Seawalk Pavilion with a performance by Brass Addiction Band and the official kickoff of Best Chair Voting.

Highlights for visitors include: more than 40 children’s stage programs; Third Annual Deck The Chairs Student Decorating Challenge; Moonlight Movies presented by City of Jax Beach; Tuba Christmas showcasing 200 tuba players; Worship Night; Christmas Eve Service presented by Ocean City Church; and, TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Pep Rally.

“The Seawalk Pavilion stage will be busy throughout the holidays,” said Kurtis Loftus, Deck The Chairs executive director. “DTC initiated early outreach across the First Coast inviting children’s visual and performing arts groups to take advantage of the JBDTC arts event. We anticipate showcasing more than 1,500 young performers on our stage this season.”

Another Deck The Chairs 2024 program growth is the Student Decorating Challenge. Twenty student chairs will be on display at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens and JBDTC. Themes are “Celebrate The Animal Kingdom” and “Let Young Hearts Shine.”  All art programs received decorating stipend and spent three months in creative development with teachers and DTC Student Exhibit Development Director Cathy Thomasson.

 “The youth who participate in our student exhibits have a unique opportunity to engage and express their creativity through our major public exhibition, Deck The Chairs, which serves as a vibrant holiday platform for artistic growth,” Thomasson said. “Through DTC’s education and outreach, initiatives for our First Coast’s public and private art programs help cultivate the next generation of artists, enriching schools and communities with diverse and dynamic expressions of art.”

Student Decorating Challenge Programs:

• Beaches Exhibit — Clay Charter Academy, The Discovery School Duval Charter at Coastal, First Coast Homeschoolers, Fletcher High School, Fletcher Middle School, Murray Middle School, The Bolles School, The Art Room, Sandalwood High School

• Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens — AMikids Duval, Episcopal School of Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach Middle School, Girls of Virtue, Fort Caroline Middle School, Historic Eastside Community Development Corp, LaVilla School of the Arts, Nease High School, The Art Garage, Westside Middle School

 Deck The Chairs (DTC) promotes children’s arts and art education through a nationally recognized holiday display featuring decorated lifeguard chairs. Free and open to the public, DTC has provided important economic benefits to the Beaches over the past 12 seasons. Deck The Chairs, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity. For more information, go to deckthechairs.org.